good morning. showtime. comedian stephen colbert appears before congress testifying at a hearing on immigration. >> this is america. i don't want a tomato picked by a mexican. >> did his tongue-in-cheek performance mock congress or send an important message? out of control. a florida mom arrest and charged with child abuse after egging on her teenage daughter's catfight. and it was all caught on tape. and bailed out. lindsay lohan is free this morning just hours after a judge ordered her back to jail. we'll have the latest episode for the troubled young actress.

today is saturday, september 25, for the troubled young actress. today is saturday, september 25, 2010. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning, everyone. welcome to "today" on a saturday. i'm lester holt. >> i'm amy robach. a lot of people may have thought they were watching "the colbert report." actually, no, it was a real subcommittee hearing in congress. >> i have to tell you. i didn't know whether to laugh out loud or cringe because it was awkward at times. colbert not the first celebrity to testify before congress, but nobody had seen anything like this before. >> that's right. democrats brought in the comedian to a hearing friday to help make the case for a bill to create a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, but not everyone thought it was funny. >> many people think it is always political theater. mothers are to be

cheerleaders for their kids, but this was the scene in florida as two 16-year-old girls fought it out over a boy and one of the moms was on the sidelines cheering her daughter on. that landed her in jail on a charge of child abuse. we're going to have details coming up. plus an amazing medical story. four years ago dr. richard edward lost the use of his hands in a brush fire. now he has a new set of hands after just the third double hand transplant in the united states. we will meet richard edwards and find out how he's doing in a few minutes. >> remarkable story. and live from new york it's "saturday night." 36 seasons. that's amazing. we had a chance to meet with the cast members about the new season. we'll tell you what to expect coming up. >> i left the studio yesterday morning. there was a line of people camping out trying to get into the show. >> they're out there now trying to pick up tickets. first, with the mid-term elections around the corner a look back at the week in

politics beginning with political theater. savannah guthrie reports. >> reporter: on capitol hill friday, more evidence of why some americans think washington is a joke. the comedian stephen colbert was billed as an expert witness on farm labor and testified in character. >> congresswoman loffgrin asked me to use my vast experience as a migrant farm worker. i'm happy to draw attention to this issue and i hope my star power can bump this hearing all the way up to c-span 1. >> reporter: one congressman asked him to leave. >> you run your show. we run the committee. but what do you say to that, stephen? >> reporter: but the testimony went on for several uncomfortable minutes, though not every member gave him undivided attention. >> this is america. i don't want a tomato picked by a mexican. i want it picked by an american,

then sliced by a guatemalan and served in a spa where a chilean gives me a brazilian. >> reporter: house speaker nancy pelosi saw no problem. >> he's an american. if he has a point of view he can bring attention to an important issue like immigration. >> reporter: republicans said colbert mocked the process. >> if you don't know they were illegal there may have been legal workers there. is that correct? >> i have no idea. >> reporter: privately some worried the spectacle would fan the flames of voter disgust at a time when the electorate is on edge. >> whatever the spanish word for mano is. >> reporter: on thursday night what should have been a candidate debate turned into fight night in vegas as audience members broke into a scuffle tradinging punches while the senate candidates sharon engel and harry reid were booed and heckled. just the latest sign of america,

the angry. >> be back here at 5:00. >> reporter: the president, even among supporters wednesday night in new york was repeatedly interrupted by hecklers. >> we listen to you. we heard your point. >> reporter: at a town hall this week he got something of a talking to. >> quite frankly, i'm exhausted of defending you, defending your administration, defending the change i voted for. >> some people are angry. some people are scared because of the economic conditions. some people are disillusioned who invested hope in president obama. some people are turned off in the way that they don't believe any party is going to make a difference. >> reporter: for "today" savannah guthrie nbc news, new york. >> for more we turn to john harwood, chief correspondent for cnbc. you can't make this stuff up. i don't know where to start. let's start with the anger out there. are people just angry in general and does that not make this

election somewhat unpredictable? >> well, it does. we have had a volatile season all year long, but so much of it stems from the economy. when you've got nearly 10% of the american people out of work, 15 million americans looking for jobs, that is a recipe for frustration, for looking at washington and saying, you're not solvinging my problems, you're not making my life better. is the life of my kids going to be better than mine? people are pessimistic about the economy. that's a rough thing for incumbents to endure. >> you hosted the town hall this week with the president. we heard a little bit, but there was more than one person who stood up and said supporters of the president who expressed some disappointment that he hasn't taken us where they thought he would take us by now. the president was smilinging during that, we should note. how much do you think this really struck a shot across the white house? >> well, it was a shot at the president. he absorbed those blows, but i think president clinton may be

onto something when he told politico that this was a good thing for the president. every president in the white house has the risk of beinging in the bubble and not seeming to appreciate the pain people are feeling in economic hard times by beinging o in public, hearint face to face. the president may be sending the message that he's listening. we'll see if it does any good. the challenge is to connect with voters, make them understand he knows what they are going through and is working on it. >> we showed stephen colbert testifying before a congressional hearing yesterday. i didn't know whether to cringe or laugh. i think members of congress felt the same. give me your take on what happened yesterday. >> well, it was all cringing for me. i thought that was one of the dumbest stunts i have ever seen in congress, making a mockery of a congressional hearing. i understand the reason why which is they thought stephen

colbert, as he said, has some star power to bring attention to an issue that isn't gettingi i g attention. but if you think the attention was on immigration that was a terrible miscalculation. it was more about the theater, the comedy and, as savannah indicated in her piece, it deepened the sense among americans, i suspect that congress is a joke. you look at congress's approval ratings. they are 15, 20, 25%. i don't think this is what they needed. >> john harwood, thank you very much. here's amy. lester, thank you. now to the economy. still a long way to go before the economy can be called healthy again. wall street, at least, has been on a roll for the last month. for more we're joined by cnbc's brian shackman. >> hi, amy. >> this is not a good month for the stock markets but that hasn't been true this year, why? >> we are looking at the best september in more than 70 years. it's hard to package good

explanations for this. i could say, you know, it went up because everybody thought it was going to go down. if you want an explanation of why this happened, we got a lot of information about the economy that said we might have slowed down, but we are not going into another recession. >> the federal reserve made money cheap. how has that affected the market? >> for you, me and the folks at home if they want to refinance and get credit interest rates will be low and they will save money. we don't feel richer but in the global economy there is money all over the place. >> does a higher stock market affect spending habits because people may feel confident, the 401-k may go up. >> people look at it and it has more than they thought and maybe they will buy the coffee. maybe i will take my kids out for breakfast. that's the case. compound it over 300 million people and it can make a difference. the wealth effect. >> we just saw savannah's piece about the world in politics.

it was a crazy week. how does that affect the economy? >> so many investors and analysts are waiting for elections. there is a consensus that if punls come in and get more power there will be a check and balance. maybe that's good. less government spending. there is a sense that there is optimism about a balance politically in d.c. >> i want to talk about gold. it hit an all-time high. >> did you invest? >> unfortunately i didn't. $1300. >> amazing. we talked about the cash across the world. it has to find a home. if you don't want the stock market they are going into everything. we have gold at $1300. silver is at 30-year highs. this is fascinating and i want to get this in. paper money has value if we believe it has value. if we don't have faith in it then it doesn't have value. with the concern over government debt and the value of dollars,

people want something they think has intrinsic value. people move to gold because they think it has value no matter what. >> very interesting. thank you so much. now here's lester. for the troubled schools of newark, new jersey, one man is giving new meaning to "facebook friend." mark zuckerberg is giving schools $100 million. here's more. >> the founder of facebook. come on out here. [ applause ] >> reporter: the official announcement came on one of tv's biggest stages, "the oprah winfrey show". >> the first project will be a $100 million grant. >> reporter: mark zuckerberg announced grant to help newark's schools. the shy billionaire wanted to make an anonymous gift but was convinced to change his mind. >> err child deserves a good education. that's not happening. >> reporter: new jersey's

governor and newark's mayor joined forces to make a bold agreement on how to use the funds. the governor will turn over some control of newark's state-run schools to the mayor who scored a coup in getting zuckerberg's donation. >> it's about the children. >> reporter: some details include setting up a $100 million education foundation. newark must raise $100 million in matching funds. the city must also raise another $50 million to serve disadvantaged kids. in newark, 150 teachers at the kip spark academy have high hopes for the project. >> i am so excited about what it could mean for the children and the families. >> reporter: in a city where 45% of the students do not graduate from high school, education experts say newark is now taking on another enormous challenge. >> if they fail, every foundation, every mayor and governor will look at this as proof of why this will never work and it may never happen

again. >> reporter: but the governor, the mayor and the philanthropist say they are determined to make newark a model for success. we want to let you know nbc news will have a special week-long series looking at the state of america's schools. we call it "education nation." rockefeller plaza is being transformed as we speak. there will be interactive exhibits you can take part in here and at home. we'll take you outside and show you more of the exhibits and what we have planned. >> all right. now over to the news desk where tamron hall has more for us this morning. >> good morning. we begin with developing news in sweden where a bomb threat forced a passenger jet to make an emergency landing. a sppakistani flight was divert to stockholm after a woman said someone on the plane had explosives. the plane landed and its 273

passengers were evacuated. one man has been detained for questioning. so far, no explosives have been found. meanwhile, in afghanistan the country's recent election results are drawing scrutiny. the new york times is reporting there is evidence that voting fraud took place affecting at least one-third of the country's provinces. complaints include alleged ballot-stuffing, strong arming election officials and handcu handcuffhandcuf handcuffing and detaining election workers. complaints are mounting against pastor eddie long as another person says he pressured him into sex. ron mott has more. >> reporter: for years he's been an out spoken opponent of homosexuality. >> we anticipate the future. >> reporter: friday, a fourth lawsuit was filed against popular preacher eddie long for allegedly coaxing teenage boys into sex, charges he denied through surrogates this week. >> all i ask is for your

patience as we continue to deny each and every one of these ugly charges. >> reporter: the four -- now men -- are former members of long's new birth mega church, the main campus in georgia and a satellite church in north carolina. >> there is recognized a special duty of a pastor, a bishop, a rabbi, any spiritual leader that you cannot have a sexual or intimate relationship with any of your parishioners. >> reporter: the men's attorney says long initiated sexual contact only after they reached the age of consent. the lawsuit says long wooed them with gifts exposing them to the world of luxuries and comfort. church officials say long plans to address the issue sunday in front of the congregation. >> somebody needs to celebrate that moment. >> reporter: ron mott, nbc news, atlanta. a rare treasure found in the wine cellar of bing cross by.

the only known copy of game 7 in the world series. he was part owner of the pittsburgh pirates playing the yankees in the series. but he was too nervous to watch the decidinging ga ingame. so he had it recorded and said he'd watch only if the pirates won. the pirates did win 10-9 with a walk-off homerun. it is considered to be one of the greatest games ever. that's the news. now back to lester and amy. my dad would have been thrilled to hear this. >> should have dvr'd it. >> he's so behind the times. >> not only was he too nervous, he went to europe. >> that's a fan. tamron hall, thank you.  >> bill cairns is here with a check of the weather. first fall weekend. we had record heat yesterday in d.c., 99 degrees yesterday. one more warm day today on the

east coast and changes for sunday. look at los angeles, 99 in phoenix. 105. so the heat wave shifts to the west coast. that's a loo good saturday morning to you. you talk about the heat over the west coast, we are starting off the morning in the 50s and in the 60s. it is going to be a hot one today, hot and most places are in the 90s, including some of our bayside community, red wood city, 94 degrees, some 90s for concord, right over to morgan hill, sonoma and napa county. 85 at the beaches, mitt and upper 70s. still hot right through this week. that's your saturday forecast. lester? bill, thanks. still to come on "today," caught on tape. two girls fighting it out. why one mom was arrested. first this is "today" on nbc. our state has a huge deficit.

meg whitman's plan will make it billions worse by eliminating the capital gains tax for wealthy investors, including herself. economists say her plan will "rip a hole in the budget" and is "deeply flawed". analysts for the l.a. times say whitman's plan is a "pure handout" to the rich creating a "huge risk" to schools and public safety. jerry brown's against this unfair giveaway because it will take billions from our children when we can least afford it. get california working again-for all of us.

fighting is certainly not uncommon among teenagers, but in florida a fight between two teenaged girls caught on tape took on a whole new dimension. kerry sanders has more. >> go for the head shot! >> reporter: as far as after school fights go, this one was a doozy. [ cheers ] >> reporter: in a vacant field in palmetto, florida, two teenage girls taking each other on, cheered on by dozens of classmates and by one other who police say should have known better. the mother of one of the fight girls, 39-year-old april newcomb. [ cheers ] >> reporter: a deputy writes in the report that april newcomb actively encouraged her daughter to physically fight. investigators have three videos of the event. this one was posted on youtube. in one video the deputy writes, it shows april walking toward her daughter as she jumps around preparing herself for the fight.

the deputy concludes that april never stopped the fight, rather she encouraged it. in the report, the deputy si say it is mother told him she showed up to the fight to make sure nothing got out of hand and to make sure her daughter did not get hurt. investigators say newcomb said she was there because her daughter sustained a skull fracture from a previous incident and april knew she was going to fight and wanted to make sure her daughter's nemesis did not hit her in the back of the head. >> get up! let's go! >> reporter: as the five-minute fight ensued april newcomb never called 9-1-1 and never even tried to stop the brawl. and that was a mistake. manatee county, florida, deputies say by not taking an active role and instead letting two 16-year-olds go at each other april newcomb committed a crime. she's now charged with child abuse. >> she is encouraging her daughter in this fight and,

again, doing absolutely nothing to stop it. >> reporter: psychologist jeff gardier. >> if a parent is saying, go ahead and fight. you can go ahead and do this thing. in some ways the kids don't want to let their parents down. >> reporter: under questioning, police say april newcomb admitted, of course we're both wrong and i understand that. i understand where you all are coming from. investigators say the teens could still face disciplinary actions. for "today," kerry sanders, nbc news, ft. lauderdale. nbc news reached out to april newcomb for comment. we did not hear back. we're back after these messages.

still to come, a medical

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no cloud cover from seattle to san diego. cold air in the gulf of alaska. that will keep us right about steady through tomorrow. today, this big ridge of high pressure starting to build up over us. we have a hot day around the bay area. mid-70s at the beaches. 80s to near 90s around the rim of the bay and 90s in warmer spots. here is your daily planner, sun shiz, 7:00 a.m., and close to the beach at sunset. 90s by the time we get into this afternoon. 85, san francisco. 94, livermore. here is the seven-day forecast, another hot one through monday. thank you very much. our first look at a 15-year-old boy handcuffed by a san jose police officer for allegedly having sex with that officer's 14-year-old stepdaughter. >> she had sex with the cop's daughter.

high school. the cop's daughter is not someone you do that with. the person he had sex with is the cop's daughter. >> the boy's stepfather secretly shot that video on his smart phone as the officer pretended to arrest the boy last month. the officer could face criminal charges in connection with the fake arrest. the 15-year-old boy tells the mercury news he wants the officer to go to jail saying, quote, i thought he would be a good dad by showing up and talking to parents. we will be back with half an hour.

we are back on this saturday morning, the 25th day of september, 2010. a big thanks to everyone who came out to the plaza to join us this morning. and speaking of the plaza, check it out. we're gettinging ina new look fe event education nation. i'm amy robach. we'll be signing a spotlight on education in america. we'll focus on students, educators and how you can help here and at home. >> starts tomorrow. we'll give you a complete tour. am i in your way? they didn't want me blocking their way earlier. i want to make sure. coming up, we'll tell you about

lindsay lohan. she tweeted a week ago she failed a drug test. the judge sent her to jail and she was let out on $300,000 bail overnight. and a truly remarkable story we have been anticipating this morning. we'll meet a man who received a double hand transplant. it's only the third time the operation has been performed in the united states. we have the patient and his doctor live with us this morning. we are going to be speaking with them in a few minutes, find out how he's doing. >> one of the things we look forward to around 30 rock is the return of "saturday night live." our friends are back in the building preparing the season premiere tonight. you got a look behind the scenes. we'll find out what they have in store for the next season. >> amy poehler will be the guest host and the line is wrapped around the plaza. it should be a fun night. before that, one more check on the weather with bill cairns out on the plaza with us.

bill? >> warm and beautiful. we have princesses here for the parade here. it will be hot here and good morning to you. hot around the bay area. 90s. starting off with the 50s. not much in the way of fog at all. until tomorrow afternoon, patchy fog. then, warm at the coast today and tomorrow. 73 at the coast. 85 in san francisco. lots of upper 80s to near 90 around the rim of the bay and lots of mid to upper 90s in some of the warm, inland spot, today and tomorrow with monday being the hottest day. have a great weekend! and, no, this isn't a skit. these guys are marching in the parade and have the nice horns they have been playing this morning, too. back to you. >> we wondered when they walked on the plaza. up next, lindsay lohan, we'll have the latest on her. first, these messages. i do a lot of different kinds of exercise, but basically, i'm a runner.

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you know, not even hollywood could have come up with the script. on friday lindsay lohan was ordered to jail without bail for a month. but hours later, she was a free woman again. kristen welker joins us from outside lohan's home near hollywood. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. lindsay lohan arrived here at her west hollywood apartment at about 12:30 this morning thanks to her attorney, a superior court judge, and a lot of money. lindsay lohan released from jail just hours after a judge ordered her back inside without bail. the troubled actress first reported to court friday morning, dressed to the nines for another probation violation, this time she tested positive for drugs just weeks after she was released from rehab.

before the hearing started, lohan was all smiles. but all that changed when ten minutes after the hearing started, judge fox ordered her to be handcuffed and taken into custody for nearly a month without bail. lohan showed little emotion, but dad michael didn't hold anything back. >> jail is not good for anyone. i have been there. it doesn't rehabilitate. >> reporter: no sooner had lohan arrived at jail than her lawyer started working on getting her out. hours later a judge overturned the decision. according to court documents the second judge ruled defendants charged with misdemeanors are entitled as a matter of right which was set at $300,000. there are stimulations. lohan has to wear an alcohol monitoring bracelet like this one she showed off in a photo shoot. and has to refrain from controlled substances. legal experts say judge fox was trying to prove a point. >> as far as what he was giving

a message to lindsay lohan, it was, "you better stop doing this because otherwise you're going to keep going back and forth to jail and i'm going to be here waiting for you every time you screw up." >> reporter: this was lohan's third and shortest stint in jail. this summer she served 14 days and 23 days in rehab stemming from a prior dui violation. medical experts say she has a lot of work to do to rehabilitate herself. >> it should be a solid decision made by her treatment team to know how this relapse happened. >> reporter: hollywood insiders say amazingly her star may not be tarnished by any of this. >> after being in jail again, lindsay probably will still have a career. hollywood is very forgiving. >> reporter: now lindsay lohan's legal troubles are far from finished. she'll be back in court on october 22 for a probation violation hearing where a judge could decide to send her back to jail or back to rehab.

amy? >> all right, kristen welker, thank you. i think a lot of people are seeing she's in, out and think this is star treatment. you say actually the second j g judge was following the law. >> people think if it had been anyone else but lindsay lohan they would be serving time. the reality is this is a misdploomi misdemeanor and bail is not to be used to punish someone. you are not supposed to hold someone without bail as a way to say this is to tell you you did it wrong. you're supposed to hold someone without bail to make sure they show up in court for their actual sentencinging hear i inhe 22nd. i know no one wants to hear this, but i think the second judge did the right thing by saying she's entitled legally to bail under california law. >> october 22 is her sentencing hearing.

what can we expect? will she go in front of the same judge who clearly wants to throw the book at her? >> she'll be back in court and will likely get, i think, a 30-day sentence. why? she had been previously promised that if she violated her probation she'd get 30 days on each and every one of the probation violations. this is a single violation of probation. >> she failed a drug test. >> exactly. she'll probably get the 30 days. does that mean 30 days? the answer is no, it doesn't. but, again, that's the same sentence anyone else would get. when people say, she had a 30-day sentence and she may get out after six or seven days because she's lindsay lohan, no. >> what about rehab? that was cut short as well because they said she was fine. >> that's a good question. rehab is the place where they actually could keep her longer because they could say they don't believe that as a medical matter she should be released meaning the difference between

serving a jail sentence and a rehab sentence is that the jail sentence, you've got to stick to what everyone else is gettinging. meaning if there is overcrowding in the jails then everyone else gets one-quarter of the time, she should get one-quarter of the time. with rehab it's a question of how she's doing medically. if she hasn't overcome this she may have to serve a longer time here. everyone can rest assured that she's not getting star treatment. she is acting like a star and she's acting ridiculous. but that doesn't mean the punishment she's getting isn't exactly in line with what anyone else would get. >> dan, thank you very much. we appreciate it. still to come, the man who received a double hand transplant. we'll meet him live. first, these messages. let's throw down some style. style that lasts a lifetime. what do you say we get the look we want, the softness we need, and an unbeatable lifetime stain warranty for whatever life throws at it. then let's save big on the installation.

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[ children ] blue one! blue one! [ male announcer ] the routan. the only minivan with the soul of a volkswagen. can we do it again? [ boy ] yeah! sure. [ male announcer ] awarded "most appealing minivan" by j.d. power and associates. starting under $26,000. it's a whole new volkswagon. and a whole new game. doctors are calling it a medical breakthrough. dr. richard edwards relied on his hands as a chiropractor in oklahoma, but that changed when his truck caught fire damaging both hands. last year in an operation done twice before in this country dr. edwards received two new hands and a new lease on life. >> reporter: it took a team of 20 surgeons over 17 hours to perform the complicated and rare procedure -- a double hand transplant. family members waited anxiously throughout the night for updates, posted on twitter from inside the operating room.

just two days later with a first look at his new hands dr. edwards did what was impossible days before. he moved his fingers. >> oh, i'm a blessed man! >> pull the index finger down. that's strong. pull that down. that's strong. >> reporter: an ability that impressed even his doctors. >> look at that. >> reporter: now with each new movement edwards has more hope for the future. >> i love to hold my wife's hand and feel her skin and i want to do that again. >> we are happy to be joined now by dr. richard edwards and dr. warren brydon from louisville, kentucky. good morning to both of you. thanks for being with us. >> good morning. >> good morning. >> dr. edwards, give me a sense. i know that the recovery of the hands has been uneven. one is doing better than the other. how are you feeling and what

kind of sensation do you have in the hands? >> oh, i feel fantastic. the type of sensation i have in the hands, incredible ability to move my hands, in my mind, at this point in time. but a loss of sensation. i don't have any fine touch yet. but my motor control, motor skills at this point in time just blow me away. i'm just awed. >> i'm watching you bend your fingers. you were able to do that just a couple of days in. can you pick things up as well? >> yeah. as a matter of fact, the other day when i was in therapy, something dropped onto the floor and i bent over and without thinking, i picked it up. i picked it up with my fore finger and thumb and handed it to my therapist. she looked at me with a smile and said, i can't believe that.

reached behind her and grabbed something off the shelf and set it in front of me and said, can you paycheck thick that up? i picked it up. >> you were able to make clean cuts with the tendons and make the attachment. you must have been blown away when you see him clenching a fist. >> we were pleased because it confirmed what we anticipated would take place. as you have said, that's what makes this unique. this is the first time we had a patient who had his hands that were burned and nonfunctional. so when we removed the nonfunctional hand we were able to save healthy tendons which we could hook up to the donor hand. all other patients that we have done here and elsewhere in the world, the tendons were all damaged on the recipient's part because there had been bomb

blasts or industrial accidents that ripped everything off. so the reason you are seeing good motion here is because of that. >> now, what is the prognosis and recovery? i know there was controversy because there is the risk of rejection and a bad body response, if you will. so what's the prognosis? >> well, at this point, his prognosis is very good on this hand. as you know, we have had troubles on the other side where we had to go back to the operatinging roo inroom. as long as we get out of the critical phase and we are out of it on this side and close to out of it on the other side, the prognosis is we should be able to get out a number of years. there is a patient in austria who is ten years. our first patient here is 11 and a half years out. so the prognosis gets better with each day. >> it's a great story. dr. richard edwards, congratulations.

dr. warren brightenback, thank you very much for talking about this. good to have you both here. up next, live from new york it's saturday night -- almost. first this is "today" on nbc. brown and oakland's schools. what were the facts? fact: march 7, 2000. brown asks voters for new mayoral power to appoint school board members. he gets it, and promises better schools. but the drop out rate increases...50%. the school budget goes into a 100 million dollar deficit. the schools become so bad...the state has to take them over.

it was "largely a bust," he admitted. jerry brown. failure as governor. failure as mayor. failure we can't afford now.

live from new york it's almost saturday night. the venerable comedy show kicked off its 36th season here on nbc. coming off a big success of betty white's award-winninging tu turn as host can they keep up the momentum. >> hi. i'm amy poehler hosting "saturday night live" this week with katy perry. >> who was "i kissed a girl about". >> i think we know. and you more than liked it. you loved it. >> that was a long time ago. >> studio 8-h was charged with energy. >> now i'm nervous. >> snl alum and "parks &

recreation" star amy poehler said she's beyond excited to be back. >> she's so talented. she can do the show by herself. i can just relax. >> the show returns on the heels of betty white's emmy-award-winning stint as host by popular demand. >> i can't believe i'm hosting "saturday night live." >> it was a feel-good experience for everyone. it will be hard to match. >> do you think we'll ever catch this guy? >> like my underwear -- depends. >> at rehearsal thursday they were working on new material to keep the upswing going. >> rope off on area of the house and stay there. >> there are a will tlot of new writers. it's exciting. it's new blood. i don't mean that literally that there is new blood. >> new writers and four new cast members including stand-up comedian jay farrow whose barack

obama impression has been making the rounds on youtube. >> hey, you, over there. i want to talk to you. >> musical guest katy perry made headlines when "sesame street" decided not to air a duet with elmo after parents complained her outfit was too revealing. >> it doesn't matter who's done what to a puppet. >> tag, you're it! >> not again! >> maybe this will be the season i will go. i have never been in the studio audience. >> it is something to see. you should go. >> i'm openly shilling for tickets to snl. >> the season premiere is tonight at 11:30 here on nbc. we are back, butirst, these messages. we're part of nature, and as we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. it's a selfish thing to want to protect nature.

i never intended to be a businessman. we made the world's best climbing equipment , t of here. we realized that putting in and taking out of all these pitons was causing damage to the rock. so, i made these little soft aluminum chalks that you just put in with your fingers. and i'm a dam buster. we've been working for years to take this dam out. the reservoir behind it is only 4 feet deep-- the water gets real warm, kills a lot of the life in the river. when you take out a dam, that's a real victory. i mean, a concrete victory so to speak! when i get an idea to do something, i like to take the first step. if that feels good, i take another step. to do good, you actually have to do something. no matter what you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer or donate at membersproject.com.

that's going to do it for us on this saturday. our thanks to bill cairns and tamron hall. coming up this week we kick off education nation. >> with an in-depth conversation about improving education in this country. we'll see you then. have a great saturday. we'll see you then. have a great saturday. so long. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

firks . > a boy handcuffed for having sex with a south bay police officer's stepdaughter. now, the officer could be the one who winds up behind bars. >> monday at 11:00, a killing spree stuns the bay area and

leads investigators down a twisty trail of violence and abuse. now, there is even more to this bizarre murder mystery, the missing diamond, the body, new analysis from the chemicals and explosive expert in what was in the mysterious handwritten note from the victim to the suspect. nbc bay areas' jody hernandez investigates.

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